I will be crowned king

Lead clouds covered the ground and cold rain fell on the ground.

At dawn, the slave port that had been ravaged by war could not wait for the dawn. The rain mixed with dust taunted the attackers and defenders who were killing each other, dampening their mood.

The losers become more and more desperate, and the winners have no joy.

But no matter what, the smoke and flames of war for days were finally completely extinguished under this burst of rain, and the dilapidated mud pits and trenches of the position turned into a swamp, soaked with hundreds of artillery shells, and soaked with each other's dead bodies.

When Carl Bain, Norton Crosell and others arrived with reinforcements, they found that the only tasks left for them were to clean the battlefield that had been soaked by rain and turned into a swamp, and to manage prisoners of war who were almost two or three times their number. They waited silently for the arrival of the follow-up main force and the Jihad Army fleet.

Obviously they hurried over to save people, but in the end they were assigned the task of collecting garbage. You can imagine the mood of the soldiers of the infantry regiment, but they had to accept it hard--their supplies were also exhausted. , and their physical fitness after the long-distance attack could not support them to turn back and compete for the merit of killing Borre Levent.

"...7822 soldiers were captured, of whom 3188 were slightly injured, 421 were seriously injured, 123 officers, and 53 persons with higher status, Sixty-seven talented people; captured 418 horses and war horses, ten three-pound cannon, five eight-pound cannon, five six-pound cavalry cannon, and baggage vehicles..."

Standing under the makeshift awning, the little secretary held a hastily prepared register and quickly reported the results of the battle that had just been submitted. His steady tone exuded some kind of depressing and heavy magic, destroying the prisoners present over and over again. their hearts.

Listening to those words that made everyone present miserable, Pavel Dukaski's expression was extremely numb, and his bloodshot eyes were even observing. Sitting in front of him, calling himself "Anson Bach", he was recognized by the Holy See And the Judgment Knights listed the room as a "must capture" suspect.

He looks less than thirty years old, but his actual age should be younger. He has no beard. He wears a neat and slim-fitting red-black military uniform and a gray military coat. He smokes a nanmu pipe like a middle-aged man in his forties and is as skilled as a secretary. He was drafting an extremely fair agreement on white paper, listening to his subordinates' reports like a real commander, and like a powerful genius, facing dozens of people with their hands and feet free as if no one else was around, ready to rush up and kill him at any time. Surrounded by knights and captured.

Various images were mixed together, converging into the figure in front of me - with only 12,000 people, they defeated and even annihilated 20,000 holy war troops, and even suspected of killing the Clovis people of the Judgment Knights.

After another minute, the little clerk's report that made everyone present finally stopped. Anson, who was smoking a pipe, also stopped writing at the same time and pushed the agreement in front of him with one hand: "Okay, as long as you sign this agreement, you and your men are free, Acting Corps Commander His Excellency Pavel Dukaski.”

Taking over the agreement with his slender white hands, Pavel took a look at the parchment, which was neatly written and exuded a good smell of ink, as well as all the "reasonable" requirements on it: the Borei Jihad Army must not continue to be hostile to the Free Confederacy. Dozens of wealthy imperial families, headed by the Dukaski family, must pay a ransom appropriate to their status to the Confederacy, and tacitly allow some Confederate intelligence personnel to withdraw to Sailing City as Jihadi Army soldiers, and must protect them...

If they don't agree or regret it, then the Free Confederacy has the right to expose the truth about how they framed the Levent family, betrayed themselves and cooperated with their enemies, and it's the kind where both people get the stolen goods, and there are witnesses and material evidence.

Anson only had to say clearly that this was robbery, and he didn't bother to pretend, so he didn't hide it at all.

But Pavel, who glanced at it casually, didn't pay too much attention. He placed the agreement on the table, took the initiative to pick up the signing pen with a calm expression, and wrote his name on the agreement.

"Dear Commander-in-Chief Anson Bach, I have a little question to ask you."

Silently putting down the signing pen in his hand, Pavel pointed to the agreement on the table: "I don't know what you think, but judging from the content of this document, you seem to be very confident in defeating the Jihadi Army. "

"Yes, I do not deny your glorious victory this time, and I also admire your previous decisiveness in Sailing City, Black Reef Port and Gray Pigeon Castle... But all the glory and decisiveness cannot cover up the huge gap between us. "

"So I'm really curious, where does your almost blind confidence come from?"

"confidence?"

Anson blew out the smoke and looked up at Pavel: "Is this the only thing you want to know?"

"That's right." Pavel nodded slightly, with an expression that didn't look like he was joking at all: "If it were me... no, it should be anyone else facing the same situation as you. They should have despaired a long time ago, but in your case In his eyes, it seems that everything is planned and under control... It really makes me curious."

"Of course, this is just a small personal issue of mine. It doesn't matter if you don't want to say anything. I will still fulfill the agreement that needs to be fulfilled. Please don't take my words as any conditions."

Pavel's tone is very sincere, and his gentle expression is even more like a knight than Louis was before. From head to toe, Alexei exudes an aristocratic atmosphere that has never been seen in Alexei, and is cultivated by good education and environment.

But Anson's expression became serious, and he narrowed his eyes slightly unconsciously.

The other party seemed to just want to ask casually, but in fact he was interrogating his trump card, and wanted to truly understand the Free Confederation, or what the real barrier between the Storm Legion and the Holy See was.

And if a captive, or even a captive who has clearly betrayed one of his own people, suddenly asks this question, it will definitely not be because of so-called "curiosity", it can only be a more real reason: he wants to rebel!

If it were an ordinary person, Anson might not care, but the other party was the heir to the Dukaski family, and even included a bunch of large and small, dozens of wealthy families in the southern part of the empire.

Previously, they were all the backbone of the jihad that supported the emperor and the Holy See, especially the Levent family. Now the southern wealthy families will collectively abandon the Levent rebellion. If successful, the anti-war and main-war forces in the empire will be completely reversed. There is the possibility of completely eclipsing the Holy See and the imperial family!

Of course, the possibility of the other party feinting a shot cannot be ruled out... Therefore, Anson must be cautious. Even if it is true, he must consider how much he should reveal based on the other party's psychological endurance level.

But in Pavel's eyes, the situation is completely opposite.

Originally, he wanted to use this to test the other party's details and judge whether the other party was worthy of continued cooperation; but the other party always remained silent, with a hint of disdain in his eyes, and had no interest in his "sincerity".

This made Pavel feel panic: Although the Dukaski family is not as wealthy as the Seven Knights, it is still a very important presence in the southern part of the empire and the royal family. As the actual ruler of the Free Confederacy, he cannot be unaware of this. .

In this case, the other party's disdain can only be explained by the fact that higher-level forces are already on his side. Could it be that... the rumors about Adlan, Clovis, and Hantu are all true?

It's possible, very possible!

In this way, things become clear: it seems to be a war between the old and new worlds, but it is actually a struggle between the empire, the Holy See, and most of the world of order. Whether the colonies or the Clovis rebellion, they are just pushed to the forefront by those people. representative.

And having betrayed the Levent family, he had already renounced the Holy See and the royal family, but now he was still pretending to test the other party. Little did he know that in the eyes of others, he was simply a typical example of arrogance and actively seeking death...

The more Pavel thought about it, the more frightened he became. His calm and calm attitude gradually became unsustainable, so much so that Anson didn't turn on his "power" at all and noticed something strange about him:

"Sir Pavel, are you okay?"

"Ah...ah! I, I'm fine, fine!" Pavel suddenly woke up after being greeted with greetings, and even showed a somewhat flattering look on his face: "Please, what can I do for you?!"

What's up? Anson was stunned for a moment, then chuckled: "Aren't you just curious why we..."

"Ah... ah, that thing, I just said it casually, I don't really want to know!"

Pavel hurriedly waved his hands, with a somewhat flattering look on his face: "I'm really sorry for making you worry so much. Don't worry, I've figured it out myself!"

"Uh..." Anson raised his eyebrows: "Have you figured it out?"

"I really figured it out!"

Pavel nodded solemnly, stood up slowly, glanced at the prisoners behind him with a very wary expression, cautiously approached Anson, and lowered his voice as hard as he could:

"Please don't worry too much. As long as Alexey is still here with you, the Dukaski family will always be the strongest supporter of the Free Confederacy's independence!"

Anson Bach: "...?"

…………………………………………

On the mud pit-like position, the prisoners of the Jihadi Army who had laid down their weapons and surrendered were being gathered and sent in batches to the slave port for detention and custody.

It is said that they were imprisoned, but in fact there were no jailers responsible for guarding them, and there were no prisons for so many people; it was still the officers of the Jihad Army who were guarding the soldiers of the Jihad Army, and they were concentrated in the slave port simply because There are too many people so it is easier to manage and provide supplies.

The Jihadi soldiers knew this very well. They were already hungry and showed great cooperation with the newly cooked potatoes and pickled fish shared by two people. A very few were unwilling or were taught by the Ring of Order. The holy warriors affected will be disciplined by their own people at the first opportunity - ranging from being maimed to death in the worst case.

They had been starving and sleeping for several days, and shot and killed their own people. As long as they could get food and the promise of survival, they didn't care at all about killing a few more of their own people.

After placing these people in the town, Alexei did not stay in the slave port for long. He ran to the seaside alone, looked at the distant sea horizon, and smoked quietly.

"Why don't you go back to your position?"

"ah?"

A familiar voice came from behind. Alexey subconsciously took out the cigarette case from his arms and handed it over, but Norton stopped him, snatched the cigarette butt from the corner of his mouth, and threw it directly into the sea.

"Hey, what are you going to do..."

"answer my question!"

Norton stared at the furious Alexei expressionlessly, without blinking: "The biggest hero in the Battle of the Slave Port was the one who captured thousands of Jihadist prisoners, but he ran to a place like this... What do you want to do? ?”

"Heroes, huh..." Alexei smiled mockingly: "Are you talking about the heroes who were deceived by their own people, or the heroes who were deceived by your truth?"

"But you blocked tens of thousands of holy warriors, and your position was not defeated!"

Looking at his friend, Norton said word by word: "This is what we failed to do in Straw Town, but you did it."

"That's because you were facing a 20,000-bore army at that time, but I was fighting a sparsely defeated army with no equipment and equipment, and the artillery shells were all stones!" Alexei emphasized:

"Don't blame me. The outcome of this battle would not be different if it were any infantry regiment of the Storm Legion! I'm just very lucky, and I fell into your trap and got hit by mistake!"

"The most important thing is that I don't want to see that man again... both!"

Alexey, who was full of complaints, had an indescribable expression of disgust on his face.

Norton burst into laughter... Although he didn't know what happened specifically, usually people who had cooperated with the Society of Truth seemed to have a bad impression of this organization - even if the interests of both parties were completely consistent.

Obviously, every time we find a party with interests, we always try our best to ensure that the other party can ultimately make a profit. Why can't we always get along well with each other and leave a good impression on the other party?

Norton didn't understand, but if he could do it all over again, he would definitely try to replace Alexei... although there are no ifs in this world.

"What's more, even if he was the hero of the Battle of Slave Port, his greatest contribution must be the killing and capturing of Borre Levent." Alexei changed the topic and glanced at him as if he was envious and jealous. Norton: "You must be unwilling to give up the battle glory to Leo in order to come to support, right?"

"how come!"

Norton laughed dumbly and shook his head indifferently: "Even if I stayed in the situation at that time, I would just continue to do useless work."

"Do you really think so?"

"of course it's true."

Nodding seriously, Norton said in a betting tone: "Believe it or not, even if things at the slave port end, Leo and the others will not be able to capture or kill Borre Levent alive."

Before he finished speaking, he suddenly realized something and became alert: "Wait! Have you received any news?"

Alexey did not answer his question, but the corners of his mouth began to rise uncontrollably, and at the same time, he slowly raised his right hand and pointed behind Norton.

In disbelief, Norton looked back and saw the Chief of General Staff hurriedly walking towards this side, shouting as he walked: "What are you two doing standing there?!"

"Leo's 4th Infantry Regiment successfully blocked the enemy, and Borre Levent has been shot to death!"